I think most of you know that I’ve been working on cleaning up my house and getting rid of a lot of junk I’ve accumulated over the years. I’ve gotten a lot of closets and cupboards cleaned out and I feel pretty good about it. I have a LOT of kitchen cupboards. I am very surprised at the amount of them in this farmhouse. Where most people wouldn’t have put them, these people did and they go all the way up to the ceiling. It would have been wasted space so it was smart on their part. I opened one of them up and it was packed FULL of cook books and an old cooking recipe box that I got in the early 80’s. I got the box and each month I’d get a new pack of recipes with a variety of different dishes and categories.
So, no big deal right? When I opened that old yellow box I saw a bunch of “stuff” in the front of the box.
Upon closer examination, I discovered a whole bunch of recipes that I’d been looking for ever since we moved here. I just thought I lost them. I came upon this one and was so excited I started jumping up and down. I think Paul thought at that moment that I either lost my mind or won the lottery. The instant I saw this card, I knew I found it. I KNEW AS SOON AS I SAW IT WHAT IT WAS.
What I found was this recipe. It IS SO GOOD and I’ve been trying to find it for years. But over time, I’d forgotten what was even in it so it was hard to look. All I could remember was the “sauce” and it had chicken in it with cut up bread cubes on top. I can even see the casserole dish I used to make it in. Come to think of it, I lost that too!!! Anyway, I found this recipe and I made it right away. I was so excited to eat it that I forgot to take a picture of it. Sorry. But everyone that had it, loved it. Here is the recipe. It’s called Chicken Divan.
2 Pkgs frozen broccoli or 3-4 fresh stalks
5-6 Chicken breasts
1 Can cream of chicken
½ Cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp lemon juice
½ Cup swiss cheese
1 Cup bread cut into cubes
2 Tbsp melted butter
In round baking dish, put cooked broccoli on bottom (I just steamed it for a few minutes). Cooked chicken cut into pieces on top of broccoli. Mix together soup, mayo and lemon juice and pour over chicken. Then top with swiss cheese, then bread and brush melted butter over bread cubes. Bake at 325 for one hour covered. Uncover and cook an additional 15 minutes to brown bread crumbs.
I did double the soup, mayo and lemon juice mixture. I like it “moister.”
What else is so comforting to me is “why” this woman, who I’ve tried to look for through the years as they moved was, it was one of the hardest times of our lives. Jason’s appendix had ruptured when he was 7 on Christmas Eve Day and this woman helped me a lot with taking care of Toby and cooking for us after we were spending the days in the hospital. He was in there for 21 days. I think what this means to me is it’s a “comfort” thing. I felt loved and thought about by a friend and neighbor.
This is what I’d like to know. Have you ever lost something that you thought you’d never find again and then found it? I’ve lost things over the years that I’ve never found again and every now and then I think about them but it was such a treat to find something just once that I never thought I’d see again.
Us Girls..Our Views 
Yeah, it’s like finding your own “time capsule,” isn’t it?
I know I’ve had that happen to me, but I can’t seem to remember what it was that I found, or obviously, the story behind it.
There are a lot more things that I’ve lost and not ever found. I have a hard time letting those things go. I keep thinking some day it will turn up. I’ll look in the same spot 100 times because it just has to be somewhere, right? I remember some dollhouse furniture that “disappeared” when I was a little kid, and I never did give up on looking for those items until we moved out of that house; and even then, I would have flashbacks and think, what about under the attic eaves? (I did look there though!) I actually found some cool stuff while looking for the lost items. Like an old rusty key hidden in a wall in the attic. Too bad I never found the story behind that key or what it went to.
I lost my first set of wedding rings. I looked absolutely EVERYWHERE for them. Just like you. Over and over and over knowing I looked there. When we moved I thought they might turn up even though I’m 99% positive I left them in a condo we rented one year on the shore of Lake Superior. I remember taking them off to put on lotion but I never remember putting them back on. I called but they never were turned in. I can still see them in my mind and sure wish I still had them.
I also once lost a coral ring that my sister and brother in law got me on their honeymoon in Hawaii. I lost it and never gave up hope. One day I was standing waiting for my washing machine to fill up so I could add the Downy and I happened to glance on the floor and something shiny caught my eye and I bent down and there it was. Right behind my water softener tank. It was like a tall, skinny canister. Not at all like the ones we have now that are big and round and plastic.
That reminds me, my sister just found my mom’s pearls that my dad bought for her 25th wedding anniversary, along with the pearl/diamond earrings she inherited from someone. They “disappeared” at least 10 years ago. She had searched “everywhere” and finally decided they must have been stolen somehow. My sister was clearing out a junked-up room a couple weeks ago, and there they were. I can imagine how happy my mom must have been.
Right now my I’m obsessing a bit about some items my kids have lost. I pretty much know every item that they have misplaced (and considering how much stuff they have, that’s saying something). The three mystery items right now are a purple toy person (the first toy they ever lost, missing since 2008); a purple umbrella (seriously, how do you lose a 3-year-old’s purple umbrella that she’s never been allowed to take outdoors?); and a Yoga Kids DVD (2 weeks ago E said she wanted to watch that one, and I haven’t seen it since). I did discover that my older daughter has a “secret stash” place! Ha ha! But alas, the missing items are not there. It’s not that I can’t replace them. It’s the idea that they HAVE to be somewhere and I can’t believe I am so incompetent that I can’t find them. I just know that if I buy another DVD, the missing one will show up in a totally obvious place the next day.
Everyone needs to make this recipe! It was DELICIOUS and people at work were asking for it after they smelled my leftovers!
Thanks Joy, for the recipe. I will make it tomorrow, I happen to have all the ingredients in the fridge and pantry, yeah!! I only know I lost a doll I had, and it was gone one day. I never found it back. Mt mom was very nonchalant about it. She said, it will be found but she never had time to help me looking for it. I was heartbroken then.
ps. is it okay I post it under Recipes/chicken casserole at my blog?
I am sure my Dutch family will love this American dish!
Ellen, what’s mine is yours. Feel free to take anything you want. I hope they all like it. It’s very good. I hope you like it too.
pps: 🙂 I will mention the source of course 🙂
Thank you Joy, so sweet! I’ll let you know!
TO get something which you have lost is a kind of gift you receive from nature ! You got your lost recipe books ! Chicken Diwan sounds yummy , will try it out .
Is The Sun Shining Today Over You?
How can you guess what kind of day you will have?
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Finding something you had given up on is like finding gold.. I found a picture I had lost long ago and it really was like I had won something… Good for you
I *heart* Chicken Divan. My mother-in-law used to make it all the time… not so much anymore, since her kids have flown away, but every now and again, when we get together, and it’s awesome. She uses Steve’s Grandmother’s recipe, and it’s just heavenly… full of all that fattening heavy creamy comfort… mmmmmmm……. And it has veggies, too, so that makes it health food!
And I’ve lost tons of stuff, sometimes it shows up, sometimes not. Currently, we’re on a quest for a CD case that Steve assembled of a bunch of his favorite tunes. He put it somewhere… but can’t remember where… and he can’t see to find it, so now I have to try to read his mind to figure out where he might have put it… *sigh* My favorite thing is when I put on a jacket or sweatshirt after it’s been mothballed for the summer, and I reach into the pocket and come out with money. Usually, it’s only a buck, but once, I found a $20.
Most recently, though, I’ve lost my mind. And would be very thankful to locate it again.
I hear you about the lost mind!
Anyone else notice that there is a finite number of birth dates that you can remember? I used to know everyone’s. Even miscellaneous people’s kids, I’d know their first and middle names, ages, birth dates, etc. Now I can’t for the life of me remember several nieces’ / nephews’ birthdates, and I’m not sure how old they are any more either. But I still remember the birth dates of people I haven’t seen in decades. What’s up with that?
Oh Laura, I lost my mind eons ago. If I could remember where I left it I’d probably forget where I was going to retrieve it!
Oh goodness I have lost so many things over the years, it’s sad really. I moved all the time so keeping track of everything was impossible! I recently found a package of socks I thought actually had gotten thrown away. I know that’s not anything special, but I was excited!
I’ve lost my rings several times, and always seem to find them!
When I left Montana I had a big box I couldn’t take with me. It had my Blue Bird vest in it, pictures, and music boxes my grandmother gave me. Those music boxes, I can still hear them and it breaks my heart to not have them.
I lose stuff everyday, thankfully it’s usually nothing too important!
That recipe sounds really good, I don’t know if Jason would eat it though. Did he like it, do you remember? I still can’t believe he was in the hospital during Christmas and for that long. I can’t imagine!
Toby and I figured Jason didn’t eat this. I don’t think he ate broccoli cooked. I remember he liked it raw though. He may like it now. You’ve gotten him to eat so many more things now. I think when that little boy was so sick over Christmas, it was one of the worst periods of my life. Thankfully we were only 20 minutes or so from the hospital. I can’t even imagine having to go everyday from where I live now.
No he doesn’t eat it cooked but I could pick that out for him. I know Bailey would like it!
Well I think he’ll like the sauce. If he likes that he’ll love the chicken because it gets very tender.
I am trying this recipe for sure!
I have not been fortunate enough to find anything that I lost.
I’m like Nikki I moved to much when I was younger. We also had a storage space that got flooded and I lost a ton of my personal stuff in that!
Let us know how you like it. I thought of you right away. It sounded to me like something you’d like.
Thats awesome Joy.It is exciting to find something you thought you lost.So happy you are happy.The happy dance of Joy was well deserved.
I have lost many things in my many moves and have never been found 😦
I lost the ring Grandma Froom gave me and that tears at my heart strings always 😦
That is so absolutely wonderful! Isn’t it just so much fun finding things like this? It gives the whole day a sort of magical shine to it, something special that really stays with you for the next few hours. It’s absolutely fabulous.
I don’t this has ever happened to me, though – I’ve found things that I never knew I had, not things I’d thought I’d lost.